(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to protective body wear and, more particularly, to an articulating body protective device for protection from impact-based injuries, especially relating to sports and playground activities.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Typically, it is known to provide protective equipment for players in sports activities, especially where the sport involved high impact or the risk of injury from projectiles or bodily contact.
Prior art protective equipment commonly employs a hard shell that is strapped to the body, e.g., soccer shin guards, helmets, and the like, or a soft, padded covering that is worn as a garment over clothing, e.g., baseball catcher""s padded vests, knee and elbow pads for volleyball and basketball, and the like. However, the protective equipment of prior art does not provide adequate protection from high impact, in particular from projectiles that may incidentally and inadvertently strike a body portion that is not typically covered with adequate protective equipment, e.g., the chest and heart region, the throat and neck region, etc., depending upon the sport. Also, the protective equipment is often bulky, uncomfortable, and does not adequately disperse energy.
Many prior art devices for protecting sports players from impacts do not provide adequate protection for vital organs from blunt trauma forces, in particular from projectiles as in baseball, softball, lacrosse, hockey, and the like. Vital organs like the heart, spinal cord, pancreas, kidneys, spleen, lungs, etc. and surrounding tissues in the chest, neck, torso, ribs, and other critical regions are particularly vulnerable to injuries due to impacts from such forces. More particularly, the condition of commotio cordis, or cardiac concussion, which is an arrhythmia or sudden death from a low-impact, blunt trauma to the chest without apparent heart injury, i.e., the impact to the chest stops the heart and results in deaths every year, is a serious concern, especially for children. Survival rates are low, even after resuscitation efforts. It is estimated that there are about ten deaths due to commotio cordis each year due to baseball-related impacts alone. Preventive measures are primarily offered from chest protective devices.
Data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Injury Information Clearinghouse from 1998 reported that injuries requiring hospital emergency room visits from baseball included estimated totals of more than 4,200 upper trunk injuries, 4,600 lower trunk injuries, 1,300 neck injuries, 8,200 mouth injuries, 8,200 shoulder injuries, 17,900 head injuries, 42,000 face injuries, and 2,600 eye injuries; similarly, from the same report for 2000, there were reported more than a total of 182,000 injuries, including 5,100 upper trunk injuries, 5,200 lower trunk injuries, 8,800 shoulder injuries, 18,100 head injuries, 39,000 face injuries, and 3,400 eye injuries. Furthermore, in 2000, basketball injuries totaled more than 600,000; boxing, more than 13,000; football, nearly 400,000, hockey, ice hockey, street hockey and field hockey, more than 69,400; soccer, more than 185,000; lacrosse, more than 7,400; sledding, more than 38,000; and gas, air or spring-operated guns, as in paint ball, more than 17,000. Overall, sporting-related injuries that required hospital emergency room visits were estimated to be more than 3.4 million in 2000, according to these statistics. These figures do riot include visits to private physicians or other medical care providers.
By way of example, applicant""s son, James Patrick LaShoto, was struck by a foul ball in the on-deck circle during a little league baseball game for 8-10 year olds in Waltham, Mass. in May 2001, which resulted in a 5-inch diameter bruise on his stomach for more than one month. He had little time, if any, to react in order to move out of the way or protect himself from being hit. Also, he was playing second base in baseball in June 2001 when he was struck by a baseball in the face, in particular the eye region. Fortunately, he was wearing virtually shatterproof polycarbonate sunglasses for protection, which likely prevented a permanent injury or blindness in his right eye. Thus, by way of real-life case-in-point, the use of protective devices for sports participants, especially for children, is valuable.
However, most effective impact-resistant protective devices are cumbersome, heavy, or hot and may restrict movement, which may discourage sports players or participants and spectators alike from wearing adequate protection to prevent injury in the event of projectile or other direct impact.
Thus, there remains a need for an articulating protective device that permits freedom of movement and breathability during athletic activity while offering protection from injurious impact from projectiles or direct impacts to the body, in particular areas including vital organs.
The present invention is directed to an articulating body protective device for protection from impact-based injuries, especially relating to sports activities.
The present invention is directed to an articulating protective device having a fabric outer garment enclosing rigid composite elements or shields that are premolded or custom-fit to conform to the shape of the user""s body region that is to be protected by the device.
One aspect of the present invention is to provide an articulating protective device for players of sports including a fabric-based covering encasing composite elements and that is premolded or custom-fit to the user, is lightweight, and that presents a low profile so as not to inhibit freedom of movement of the user during athletic activities.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an articulating protective device for players of sports including a fabric-based covering that includes selectively removable composite elements and that is premolded or custom-fit to the user, is lightweight, and that presents a low profile so as not to inhibit freedom of movement of the user during athletic activities.
Basically, one advantage of the invention is that by having a pad in close intimate contact with the body, in particular, from the compression of the garment, wherein the better fit provides improved impact dispersion of blunt trauma forces. This occurs because more of the protective pad is in contact with the body reducing point loading and allowing superior impact dispersion. When compared to traditional pad systems that simply xe2x80x9changxe2x80x9d from the body, the compression garment provides a superior xe2x80x9cfitxe2x80x9d of the pads equals superior protection.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after a reading of the following description of the preferred embodiment when considered with the drawings.